News, 9/11/2017 | Embassy of Finland, Washington

Finland’s Faces in the U.S.: Advancing Finnish Trade Policy

Juuso Moisander is the head of the External Economic Relations Team at the Embassy of Finland. He moved to Washington, D.C. last spring and has been enjoying his time at the embassy.

Could you tell us a bit about your background?

I have studied international relations, politics and economics at Umeå University in Sweden and at Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. In my studies I focused on globalization, factors affecting corporate localization and in general the relations between the society and companies.

I did an internship at Finland’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD in Paris in 2002 and joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2004. Since then I have worked in different positions at the Department for External Economic Relations. I have worked, for example, with trade defense, bilateral trade relations between Finland and South Korea and Japan, internet governance and ICT sector market access.

Juuso Moisander

How has you time in Washington been so far?

It’s wonderful to be in Washington, D.C. This is a perfect job for me because it sums up most of the topics I’ve worked with or studied.

I had a pretty good understanding of the upcoming position before I moved to D.C., but I have been surprised to see how my working hours are divided between a large variety of different topics. No two days are alike. There is a lot of interest in U.S. trade policy in Finland these days, which is a positive thing and motivates me. I have been constantly somewhat busy writing reports and hosting visitors from Finland.

The city itself is very green and enjoyable. I had visited Washington before and knew people in the administration through my previous positions. It has been easy to feel like home here.

What are the main topics you work with in D.C.?

Stakeholders in Finland are interested to get more information about the developments in the U.S. trade and economic policy, so I send them current and analytical information about these topics. The embassy is part of the Team Finland network and we can help Finnish companies if they face for example trade barriers in the U.S. When I present Finnish views to the American counterparts I try to give them a specific image of Finland.

What is your main message to Americans?

Finland is an open economy that has succeeded thanks to free trade. Finland was one of the poorest countries in Europe when it gained its independence in 1917. During the past 100 years we have succeeded in reinventing ourselves several times. Finland is currently a highly functioning society, which proves that the Nordic model works. It is a great honor to represent Finland in the U.S. during our centennial celebration and share our experiences.